In Our Time With Melvyn Bragg Folgen

Mary Magdalene is one of the best-known figures in the Bible and has been a frequent inspiration to artists and writers over the last 2000 years. According to the New Testament, she was at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified and was one of the first people to see Jesus after the resurrection. However, her identity has provoked a large amount of debate and in the Western Church she soon became conflated with two other figures mentioned in the Bible, a repentant sinner and Mary of Bethany. Texts discovered in the mid-20th century provoked controversy and raised further questions about the nature of her relations with Jesus.With:Joanne Anderson Lecturer in Art History at the Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of LondonEamon Duffy Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene CollegeJoan Taylor Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College LondonProducer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Robert Hooke (1635-1703) who worked for Robert Boyle and was curator of experiments at the Royal Society. The engraving of a flea, above, is taken from his Micrographia which caused a sensation when published in 1665. Sometimes remembered for his disputes with Newton, he studied the planets with telescopes and snowflakes with microscopes. He was an early proposer of a theory of evolution, discovered light diffraction with a wave theory to explain it and felt he was rarely given due credit for his discoveries. WithDavid Wootton Anniversary Professor of History at the University of YorkPatricia Fara President Elect of the British Society for the History of ScienceAndRob Iliffe Professor of History of Science at Oxford UniversityProducer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry of Rumi, the Persian scholar and Sufi mystic of the 13th Century. His great poetic works are the Masnavi or "spiritual couplets" and the Divan, a collection of thousands of lyric poems. He is closely connected with four modern countries: Afghanistan, as he was born in Balkh, from which he gains the name Balkhi; Uzbekistan from his time in Samarkand as a child; Iran as he wrote in Persian; and Turkey for his work in Konya, where he spent most of his working life and where his followers established the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Whirling Dervishes.With Alan Williams British Academy Wolfson Research Professor at the University of ManchesterCarole Hillenbrand Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews and Professor Emerita of Edinburgh UniversityAnd Lloyd Ridgeon Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of GlasgowProducer: Simon Tillotson.